The necessity of protecting the human body when an individual is subjected to violent decelerations is always more noticed by people who practice dangerous sports activities and in general by people who during work are exposed to blows or violent impacts.
In order to remedy these problems, industry has developed several safety systems particularly effective if the individuals to be protected are in the interior of a closed vehicle. Also, for the purpose of protecting people in an open vehicle or in general from falls, many possible systems have been developed. The protection by means of inflatable pillows commonly known as air bags is well known. It involves the use of garments being worn by the individuals to be protected on which are fixed one or more pillows ready to be inflated at the right moment or only shaped pillows in a manner to be fixed to the body. These inflatable pillows are of two types. According to the first type, after the inflation the tightness is almost hermetic and they in general are used to protect limited parts of the body and are effective only for the purpose of distributing a limited force of the blow on an ample surface of the body according to the dimensions of the pillow. According to the second type, on the contrary, the container of the pillow is provided with a plurality of openings of suitable dimensions in a manner that after the pillow has been inflated and subjected to a blow a substantial part of the energy is dissipated in the exiting action of the gas from the same openings. Also for the systems commonly used for the inflation of the gases, two systems are available, the first type providing the use of containers which contain compressed gas under high pressure, a system suitable for pillows of reduced capacity and hermetic tightness (see J. Crane, U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,852). The second type, on the contrary, utilizes a pyrotechnic propellant, a system greatly used in the air bags of automobiles, this system being particularly used for pillows of great capacity and dimensions with a case having openings for the purpose of dissipating the energy of the blow (see G. Guill, U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,098).
The period of time necessary for the inflation should also be considered. If the impulse of inflation is given subsequently to an impact, it should be noted that the useful period of time for inflation is extremely reduced so that one obtains a pillow of very modest dimensions and in any event absolutely inadequate to protect the body from blows at high speed.
It should also be noted that several air bags to be worn by the individuals are regularly already being sold. Starting from the presumption that only by wearing pneumatic pillows of great dimensions provided with openings for the exiting for the gas, it is possible to protect an individual from a very violent deceleration in the totality or at least a great part of the human body. The invention described hereinbelow provides a solution to the problem of obtaining pillows which are inflated in the manner and in the necessary period of time.